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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

However, since the rating has to do with the Coefficient of Friction in hot/cold applications, I suspect ceramics will consistently have a different rating than a semi-metallic. So it may make sense to compare "apples to apples"

My Axxis XBG (formerly known as Metal Masters) for the rear are EE rated.

Great! I'll add that to the (now simplified) original post!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvsgene

It might be time for another call to Luis

Here's what he said last time:

Quote:

Q6: What is the fundamental difference between the Axxis/PBR Deluxe, XBG, & ULT branding strategies?A: The Deluxe Advanced employs consumer consumer friendly materials which are easy on the rotors, have a long life, with low noise & almost no visible dusting, and a good grip.
The XBG is in between on consumer friendliness, noise, dusting, and performance.
The ULTs are closest to the original friction material on your performance BMW but the trade off is lower pad & rotor life, more noise, and noticeable dusting.

But I had never asked him about friction grades. I'm sure he has a lot to offer!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fudman

the Textar (rears) are rated at FF.

Thanks. I've added that to the original post.

Let's ask the next few people who put on new brake pads moving forward to tell us the friction grades so that we can compile a decent listing, over time.

DOT Pad Codes
This two letter edge code mandated by the DOT, and painted on all street legal brake pads, will give you some indication of their ability to resist fade. But only if you know how to read them. However, because of the wide range involved in each letter, it is only a rough indication.

Explanation of D.O.T. Edge Codes Located on all Brake Pads Official D.O.T. Edge Code Coefficient of Friction (C.F.)
@ 250 F and @ 600 F Comments
EE 0.25 to 0.35 both temps 0-25% fade at 600 F possible
FE 0.25 to 0.35 @ 250 F
0.35 to 0.45 @ 600 F 2% to 44% fade at 600 F possible
FF 0.35 to 0.45 both temps 0-22% fade at 600 F possible
GG 0.45 to 0.55 Very Rare
HH 0.55 to 0.65 Carbon/Carbon only.
O.K. up to 3000 F where it glows
Notes: These edge codes are located on the edge of the friction material of every brake pad by government regulation, along with some other codes. The first letter is a grading of the C.F. at 250 F and the second letter is a grading of the material at 600 F. Each letter grade can actually have quite a range of C.F. But a difference in the letter grade from medium to hot temperature could be an indicator of fade. The letters can be in any order. Therefore FE pads fade when hot, and EF pads would not grab when cold.. Also, you should know that Steel on Steel has a C.F. of 0.25!! So EE pads have only marginally more torque than no pads at all! Therefore FF pads are usually considered the minimum for a high-performance pad.

After some thought on this thread, I am not sure what to make of this info. While I reported early on the Axxis XBG aka Metal Masters are rated EE, they certainly do not perform like marginal low performance brake pads. Additionally, I have heard reports of Akebonos performing poorly in cold climiates (i.e. Doru's harrowing experience after his initial install)

That said, I find it hard to believe given the decent reviews of Metal Masters, assuming the formulation has not changed thru XBG- (who knows with all the confusing marketing around Axxis/PBR/Repco reboxing) that Metal Masters are EE rated. I can only assume that since they have a history of being used on track and autocrossing that the co-efficient of friction should be on the higher end of the EE scale.

In the end, I'll stick to the EE rated XBGs since they are only the rear pad. Moreover, I paid only $11 for the rear XBG set of pads when Amazon had them on sale last year. ($50 less than Akebono)

When the fronts come due for replacement, I'll scrutinize the ratings more and hopefully we'll have more datapoints.

I'm actually shocked that they are EE rated, if for no other reason than both the OEM Jurid and Textars are better, at FF each.

Yep, that is confusing and makes one wish the regulations require the COF be printed on the pad instead of a letter with a .10 range.

Another contradictory piece of the puzzle is how Akebonos claims to be rotor friendly but has a higher COF grading which leads me to believe more weighting is applied to fading than actual COF.

Also if you combine that with a characteristic that ceramics have better heat retention properties than steel, clearly something is amiss in that information to fully understand the meaning behind the grading.

Maybe it is like the DOT Temperature and Treadwear ratings where it is used to compare within a brand model line than across brands?

Im not surprised theyre EE. I just installed them because I read they had good cold bite. They dont, I hate them. no bite, no feel. there is significantly less dust than OEM but more than ceramic. I'm shopping for a new pad now. I like the idea of ceramic ( which are actually copper) because of the fade resistance and low dust, but every ceramic pad I've used had awful cold bite. I had a VW passat with EBC redstuffs and in the winter i'd have to accelerate and brake unnecessarily just to warm them up. They went to the floor in the real cold.

Basically, dont buy the metalmasters and I want to ask if the cold bite of the akebonos is any good.

That's good enough for me (since I strive to put it out there and let the forum fix the errors that crop up in doing so).

I'll update the original post (so others don't have to assemble the information every time a newbie reads this thread) ... and I'll add the nice reference you provided to the bestlinks.
- What friction grade (e.g., EE, FF, EF, etc.) is recommended for BMW E39 brake pads (1) (2)

Quote:

Originally Posted by dvsgene

Seems more manufacturers are printing it on the back now.

It's nice to have a picture reference. Thanks for snapping it. Here it is, shrunk to 640x580 pixels and annotated slightly for reference.

BTW, what I don't fully understand is how an EE would feel (given that I have an FF on my vehicle).

I would assume they designed the delta between the E and the F to be large enough to be 'meaningful'.

If I take the liberty to loosely interpret that to mean one could be able to somehow 'discern' the difference between an E and an F ... I have to then ask ...

Do 'you' actually feel any difference between the E and the F yourself?

I wasn't sure either ... but the picture was titled "XBG.jpg"; and, dvsgene previously reported "I reported early on the Axxis XBG aka Metal Masters are rated EE"; so, I took the liberty of annotating the picture as XBG so as to ward off (for others) the momentary confusion both of us just had when viewing the picture.

$35 for 4 pads, 1 tube of lube/glue and 1 sensor. Looks like they are rated FF.

Found very little technical info online, even at the Bosch website so thought I'd post a pic for the forum's benefit. I bought these primarily because of the price including sensor and the hope they are quiet and clean.

Parking brake shoes came. They don't seem to have any friction codes printed on them. Just a part number and year. 2007 !?!?!

Parking brake shoes came. They don't seem to have any friction codes printed on them.

Hmmm... that's strange. I thought it was a US Federal law that they had to have the edge codes printed on them.

Are you 'sure' they're not there?

__________________

Please read the suggested threads, where the best always add value to those threads, either by pictures or by descriptions, so the next person with the same problem stands on your shoulders.
See also: E39 Bestlinks & How to easily find what you need

Wow! Now that's some dry reading. While I didn't either, I did notice a few things looking through that pdf. First, that doc's for three years, April 2008- April of 2011. Second, these pads have a thin metal cover clipped over them. I suspect that's for rebranding. Underneath, they have an imprint of 396-B on one side and 20MR on the other. While I didn't find Bosch anywhere on that document, I did see that Akebono has a pad with 396 as it's primary designation. These look identical to their Euro396s except for the fact that the Akebonos have a slit down the center. But everything else, from the colors, to metal covers looks the same. Be interesting to see what the Akebonos have imprinted 'under' their cover.

Quote:

Hmmm... that's strange. I thought it was a US Federal law that they had to have the edge codes printed on them.

Are you 'sure' they're not there?

Maybe the law applies to pads only? The 4 shoes have 111.08310 46/2007 and are imprinted/stamped Centric on the other side. Anyone else have some shoes they can check?